While other limited-edition game releases include statues, soundtracks, or other cheap plastic crap, the SRIVSDWWE(akatMDP) gets you cars, first-class flights to luxury hotels, and even a Virgin Galactic suborbital trip into space. It might sound like a joke (and in some ways it obviously is, playing into the over-the-top nature of the game itself), but there is actually one (and only one) copy of the SRIVSDWWE(akatMDP) available for sale through UK retailer GAME. Interested parties are directed to e-mail publisher Deep Silver if they would like to actually purchase the ridiculous package, which is subject to all sorts of legalities.

You'd think that bundling all these extravagances together would get you more bang for your million bucks than if you purchased the items separately (which is usually the point of bundling, after all). But even if you have that kind of loose cash lying around, the SRIVSDWWE(akatMDP) is actually a worse deal than buying all of its components à la carte. We ran the numbers and found the elements of the pack are worth much less than the $1,000,000 list price. Here's an itemized list of all the stuff you get with the package, and how much it would cost in the real world (when there was some vagueness, we went with the most expensive feasible option we could find):

All told, we came up with a total cost of only $629,974.69 for the contents of the SRIVSDWWE(akatMDP), the vast majority of which is taken up by the space flight and luxury car. This means you'd be overpaying by about more than 50 percent of the actual value of the contents (though taxes and such might eat into that a bit). Even for a joke package, that's a joke.

Then again, by paying for the package, you'll get to say something that probably no one else has ever been able to say: that you spent $1 million on a copy of a video game. And if you're the kind of person who would actually consider spending $1 million on a game, that's probably appealing to you.

If that Full-size replica dubstep gun ends up actually costing over $400,000 then you guys are going to look pretty silly over this article...

915 posts | registered Jun 2, 2009

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

I will say this: if I had a million dollars to waste? I'd seriously consider it. If only to give a million dollars to the people who had the balls and brains to put this package together. Because as a joke on collectors edition packages? Freaking brilliant.

Also: I'm quite shocked how cheap some of the things on this list actually are.

Edit: Wait a minute, I can go to fucking SPACE for only 250k? I love 2013.

Did not actually see it on reddit until you pointed it out. Looks like we came to the same idea separately, and got different prices for some of the stuff (though the same general range for the total package).

Sorry, still holding out for the Aurum Hyperspace Ultra-Super Limited Edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic, which I hear only goes for a cool $2.5 million and gives me my own lightsaber, starship and Twilek dancing girl.

Wow, the St Louis Science Center has a scale that weights you and tells you much much money it would cost to send you to space...it proclaimed my trip would cost NASA $350K to send me...now I see I could save some bucks by flying a private spaceline! (get it? airline/spaceline)

I've never played - nor ever had the desire to play - any of the Saints Row games. But a PR department that's willing to put a package like this out there...well, they have my attention. And I suspect that's what they were trying to do.

They need to have more than 1 of these available. Who is going to buy it and have to do all that stuff themselves. Sell 2 of them and I will happy shell out $1m (I won't) so my wife and I can do all that stuff together.

Wow, the St Louis Science Center has a scale that weights you and tells you much much money it would cost to send you to space...it proclaimed my trip would cost NASA $350K to send me...now I see I could save some bucks by flying a private spaceline! (get it? airline/spaceline)

To save even more, book with Priceline. If Captain Kirk can't get you a deal on space travel, who can?

They need to have more than 1 of these available. Who is going to buy it and have to do all that stuff themselves. Sell 2 of them and I will happy shell out $1m (I won't) so my wife and I can do all that stuff together.

most of the stuff there is for two (trip to two to dc, trip to two to Dubai), etc.

But if you truly want to do both then forgo the package and buy the seperate things for yourself and your wife.

But in all honesty, if you can afford to blow $1 Million on a video game, you're really not concerned if the price of everything doesn't amount to $1 Million. I mean, what's a couple hundred thousand to someone like that? That's pocket change.

The point of this bundle is to get news stories written about how outrageous this is.

Thus this is extremely good PR value.

Exactly. Nobody actually expects anyone to buy it, and if they do only one is available.

It's like the whole pepsi points thing a few years ago where they advertised a Harrier jet for something like a million pepsi points, some insane number they didn't think anyone would ever actually get.

Only somebody did save up those million points and actually wanted a harrier. The bundle is over-priced because nobody is supposed to buy it, but if they do they won't lose money.

It's already been said, but this is great marketing with minimal effort. I've never played a Saints Row game, nor am I particularly interested in playing this one, but I assure you I will have the following conversation 10+ times over the next week: "So did you hear about the video game collector's edition going for $1 M..."

It's like the whole pepsi points thing a few years ago where they advertised a Harrier jet for something like a million pepsi points, some insane number they didn't think anyone would ever actually get.

Only somebody did save up those million points and actually wanted a harrier. The bundle is over-priced because nobody is supposed to buy it, but if they do they won't lose money.

had to look that up, funny.

"the decision had to be made by a jury consisting of members of the "Pepsi Generation."

This is the video game where you play as a super powered, frequently nude, US President. The sequel to the game where you'd intentionally leap into cars for insurance money, gun down furries as part of a reality show, streak around the city as a distraction, drive around with a pissed off tiger in your passenger seat (which'd occasionally slap you in the face), and, oh yeah, beat people with a giant dildo. To name just a few things.

I have a strong suspicion that this package wasn't intended to actually ever be sold

Edit: Wait a minute, I can go to fucking SPACE for only 250k? I love 2013.

Did not actually see it on reddit until you pointed it out. Looks like we came to the same idea separately, and got different prices for some of the stuff (though the same general range for the total package).

It's a minor nitpick, but I'm fairly sure you won't be insuring a Lambo for the price you quoted. Especially not in England, where a quick google gave the (2010) average insurance premium quote at ~1,000 gbp [source]. Maybe I just overlooked it, but I didn't even see where the source you listed actually addressed average US premiums, just changes in rates.

From some other googling, it sounds like a Gallardo is likely to be ~7-10,000 gbp/yr depending on other factors. I'm not going to call up a UK insurance co to get a more exact idea (probably faster than googling, tbh), but I'm also not writing an article on it

It's a drop in the bucket compared to some of the other items, but those do add up. I'm not saying it's a good deal, just that if you're going to tear apart and fact check/price it, please actually try to get any included numbers reasonably accurate rather than just roughed in from averages that aren't even for the right country. I know it's just a silly piece really on something that probably will never be sold and wouldn't matter even if it was, but... some of us thrive on attention to these types of details!!!

It's a minor nitpick, but I'm fairly sure you won't be insuring a Lambo for the price you quoted. Especially not in England, where a quick google gave the (2010) average insurance premium quote at ~1,000 gbp [source]. Maybe I just overlooked it, but I didn't even see where the source you listed actually addressed average US premiums, just changes in rates.

The insurance isn't for the Lambo, it is for the Prius. You're expected to insure the Lambo yourself.

FAIL. For that kind of money proper etiquette would include the hardware to play the game with. But I guess with all those trips (terrestrial and beyond), hostage rescue experiences and cars to drive, one would not really have any time to actually play the game.

It's a minor nitpick, but I'm fairly sure you won't be insuring a Lambo for the price you quoted. Especially not in England, where a quick google gave the (2010) average insurance premium quote at ~1,000 gbp [source]. Maybe I just overlooked it, but I didn't even see where the source you listed actually addressed average US premiums, just changes in rates.

The insurance isn't for the Lambo, it is for the Prius. You're expected to insure the Lambo yourself.

Fair enough, I missed in the package where it tied it only to the Prius. That's a little cheap of them honestly

The point of this bundle is to get news stories written about how outrageous this is.

Thus this is extremely good PR value.

Exactly. Nobody actually expects anyone to buy it, and if they do only one is available.

It's like the whole pepsi points thing a few years ago where they advertised a Harrier jet for something like a million pepsi points, some insane number they didn't think anyone would ever actually get.

Only somebody did save up those million points and actually wanted a harrier. The bundle is over-priced because nobody is supposed to buy it, but if they do they won't lose money.

I actually had to look this up, and then promptly made an appointment with a local orthopedic surgeon to get my palm removed from my face.

wiki summary below:

Spoiler: show

Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc., 88 F. Supp. 2d 116, (S.D.N.Y. 1999), aff'd 210 F.3d 88 (2d Cir. 2000), more widely known as the Pepsi Points Case, is a contracts case tried in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1999, in which the plaintiff, John Leonard, sued PepsiCo, Inc. in an effort to enforce an "offer" to redeem 7,000,000 Pepsi Points for an AV-8 Harrier II jump jet, which PepsiCo had shown in a portion of a televised commercial that PepsiCo argued was intended to be humorous. The plaintiff did not collect 7,000,000 Pepsi Points through the purchase of Pepsi products, but instead sent a certified check for $700,008.50 as permitted by the contest rules. Leonard had 15 existing points, paid $0.10 a point for the remaining 6,999,985 points, and a $10 shipping and handling fee.